the business of an armed country, the laws and the political lobby

by time news

Having an arsenal in the closet or garage is the most common thing in any city in the United States., especially in the interior of the country. Anyone of legal age can buy a sophisticated iron and ammunition in thousands of camping supply stores and even in a Walmart supermarket. Although sometimes it is not easy to understand, they are part of the American culture and essence and in many cases they are a symbol of freedom and independence.

In most of the states of the country, no paperwork is needed to have them: it is enough with a report that there is no criminal record, a procedure that the seller himself can do by phone or Internet at the time of purchase. At most, that check-up can take 72 hours, no more than that. There is also no physical or mental fitness test required to use them.

The United States is the most armed society in the world. In a country with some 320 million inhabitants, there are 270 million small arms, counts the Small Arms Survey. The second largest country is India, with 46 million, but with a population of almost 1.3 billion. Farther away is Mexico, with 15.5 million weapons among 120 million people.

According to a Pew Research Center survey, one-third of Americans who live with children under the age of 18 have a gun in their home.

Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. Foto AP

The problem is that the arsenal is far from being used solely for recreational or self-defense purposes: the United States is by far the country with the most gun deaths in the world.

According to the organization Everytown for Gun Safety, eighty-eight Americans die in gun violence every day and are twenty times more likely to be shot to death than in other developed countries. In the United States, massacres in cinemas, schools or universities are becoming a ruthless routine and a serious political problem.

Why are there so many mass killings in the United States?

To commit a massacre like the one in Columbine (12 dead, 1999), the one in Newtown (28 dead in 2012), the one at the Virginia Polytechnic (23 dead, 2007), the one in Orlando (49 dead, 2015) or the one in the month happened in Las Vegas (58 dead), it is necessary that the shooter has an automatic or semi-automatic rifle, to kill many people in a short time, with bursts and without having to reload every time you want to shoot.

They are weapons that the Army usually uses, but that any citizen can also have at home.

It is evident that the massacres that have been taking place in recent years are the work of madmen and, in some cases, there are political or religious motivations. But the easy access they have to them – and the firepower that some of them have over the counter – helps make the tragedies more massive, with a greater number of victims.

Salvador Ramos posted photos of his rifles on social media.  Instagram photo.

Salvador Ramos posted photos of his rifles on social media. Instagram photo.

And, although there are some controls, many times the system fails. In theory, the seller must check that the buyer is mentally fit and has no criminal record, a process that is done online. But if you do not receive the authorization from the authorities in three days – they are usually delayed – they have the obligation to sell it to you anyway.

In addition, until the beginning of 2016, traders on the Internet or at fairs were not required to examine the buyer. Those unlicensed sales accounted for around 40% of the total.

Successive governments have been very suspicious when it comes to limiting weapons. The right to arm oneself is so important in this society that it has been enshrined in the Second Amendment of the Constitutionpart of the so-called Bill of Rights, approved on December 15, 1791.

Some control attempts in the past were truncated. During the government of Bill Clintonthe sale of semi-automatic rifles was limited, but at the time of George W. Bush the regulation expired and was not renewed.

A year before leaving office, with tears in his eyes, Barack Obama accused Congress of being hijacked by the arms industry and achieved a small triumph – not in Parliament but through an executive order – by establishing checks for sales by Internet and acceleration of authorization procedures.

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